Logins

All Dorian Yearbook Specialists are given Pictavo logins with admin permissions. This way, they can edit and manage several books simultaneously. School advisers you work with will also receive Pictavo logins, but their view will be a little different.

Current Projects

This is the default tab where you can see all books currently in progress. This is also where you can search for and open specific books to work on by using the search bar in the upper-right corner. 

Approved Projects

Once a book has been submitted, it will move from the list of in-progress books under the Current Projects tab to the list of completed books under the Approved Projects tab. 

Exclusive Art

This tab takes you to the library of custom templates and snippets created by Dorian Yearbook Specialists.

Project Admin

From the Project Admin tab, you can copy the Activation Link to send to school advisors, add multiple Project Admin accounts, or adjust the existing Project Admin accounts. This tab is organized in two sections: Activated Accounts and Accounts That Need to be Activated.

Demo Books

Once you log in to Pictavo you can access your branches premade demo book. These will give you a space to practice and learn the program, you can also share it with potential clients who want to checkout the program before switching.

Home Screen

As an admin, you will be able to see a quick view of all books. In order to view the home screen of a single book, select a book by checking the box and clicking the pencil icon (Edit) in the upper-right corner. 

From there, you will have the option to either Build the book, Manage the book or Sell the book. If you are there to work on any sort of design, or upload photos, click on the links below the building side; if you are there to work on project specs or sales, click on the links below the managing or selling side.

Ladder

The Ladder is a great organizational tool. There are functions in the Ladder you'll want to take advantage of to keep your project organized. At the top of the left panel, you’ll find Ladder Sections which categorizes pages. The quick navigation panel below the Ladder Sections allows users to quickly jump to a page anywhere in the book with a single click and even displays the section color. To find out more on how to utilize the ladder, click here. 

Design

The Page Design Settings offer additional tools and features to aid in the creation of pages. The tools are optional and managed by each user individually. Typically, you’ll only use these functions in a high school book; however, some middle school books will be this advanced. 

Navigate to the Cover or Pages and click on the gear icon (Settings) in the bottom left corner to open the Page Design Settings panel. For a more detailed understanding of what each button does, click here.

Calendar

The calendar is a great tool for advisers to keep track of self-created deadlines and assigned tasks. If they don’t already have a system in place, they can use this calendar for anything related to yearbook. It is a great organizational tool that keeps all of the content information in one spot, and is easy to reference since it’s built into the program. Typically, this function is used for high school books; however, some middle school books can benefit from this as well.

Organize Photos

Manage Photos is where you’ll do just that - uploading, organizing into albums, renaming, rotating, deleting...it all happens here. Photos are one of the most important parts of a yearbook. Getting to know all of Pictavo’s Photo Management tools will help you stay organized. 

When you enter the Candids area, you will see all the albums that have been created within your project. You will also have the option of adding more albums here.

1. Clicking the New Album icon creates a new album in that specific level of your album structure. You can create albums within other albums to help keep your images organized in the way that best suits your project.

2. The Upload button will allow you to load candids into whatever album you’re currently in. If you accidentally load photos to the wrong album, don’t worry! You can move them in the Manage My Photos area.

There are quite a few handy tools available in this area: 

• Rotate an image 90º in either direction

• Edit a photo’s title

• Tag an image with a student’s name or keyword

• Download images to your computer

• Preview a selected image

• Delete an image

• See which pages a photo has been used on

• See which names or words an image has been tagged with

Users & Groups

School advisers can create Groups and assign permissions to team members so those with access to the book can do what’s needed and nothing more. 

Student Roster

In the Student Database section, they can upload student rosters. This will help them track coverage and possibly create an index for the book.

Turn on Sales with Buy The Yearbook:

1. From the home screen, under the Sell My Book section, click on Store Setup.

2. Click on Enable But the Yearbook Sales and follow the prompts.

3. Have the adviser confirm all of the information on the front page, including where to send the reimbursement checks to.

4. Once that information is saved, click on Products to add the yearbook as a sellable item. You can also add personalized yearbooks and ads during this step. The school will need to provide you with their price points and deadlines to complete this step.

To follow more detailed instructions, please visit this Pictavo Help link: Store Setup.

Turn on photos

Below are the steps for setting up collecting photos with YBK Pix:

1. From the home screen, under the Build My Book section, click on Organize Photos.

2. Click on Shared Photos and enable this section by clicking on the check box.

3. Then click on the Settings section to limit how many one member can upload, set a timeline, or require certain information.

Once these settings are set, login from the user side and verify that pictures are turned on.

From the users side

Community users will be directed to one of two websites: www.buytheyearbook.com or www.ybkpix.com. Both websites are connected, and once an account is made they can easily flip between the two.

To follow more detailed instructions, please visit this Pictavo Help link: Purchasing Products.